1948- Rinty Monaghan unifies the world's Flyweight title with a seventh round knockout win over Jackie Patterson in Belfast, Northern Ireland, then gets accidentally knocked out himself by a well wisher during the ensuing party.

1996- Arturo Gatti KO 6 Wilson Rodriguez, NYC. Retains IBF Junior Lightweight Title. Gatti, with one-eye completely shut, ends matters with a single left hook in what appears to be a fight of the year candidate.

1913- Sixto Escobar
Puerto Rican professional boxer. Competing in the bantamweight division, he became Puerto Rico's first world champion. Escobar was born in Barceloneta and raised in San Juan. There he received his primary education and took interest in boxing. After gathering a record of 21-1-1 as an amateur, Escobar debuted as a professional in 1931 defeating Luis "Kid Dominican" Pérez by knockout. Early in his career, he moved to Venezuela due to the lack of opponents in his division. There he received an opportunity for the Venezuelan Bantamweight championship, but lost by points. Subsequently he moved to New York and began boxing in other states, eventually capturing the Montreal Athletic Commission World Bantamweight Title. In 1936, he defeated Tony Marino to unify this championship with the one recognized by the International Boxing Union, in the process becoming the third Latin American undisputed world boxing champion. After retiring, he worked as a spokesperson for beer companies in New York, before returning to Puerto Rico in the 1960s, where he resided until his death. He received several posthumous recognitions and his name was used in several sports venues and buildings. In 2002, Escobar was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

1972- Joe Calzaghe
Welsh former professional boxer who retired undefeated. He was rated by Ring magazine as pound for pound one of the top 10 boxers in the world, He retired in February 2009 with an undefeated record, becoming only the fourth European boxer, after Terry Marsh, Michael Loewe and Sven Ottke, to retire as an undefeated world champion.[3] After his retirement, Ricky Hatton described him as "the best British fighter we've ever had".
Calzaghe is sometimes referred to as the "Pride of Wales", or the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage (the dragon being both a Welsh emblem and a Sardinian myth). He is the former WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring Magazine and British super middleweight champion.
Calzaghe is the longest-reigning world champion in recent years, having held the WBO super middleweight title for over ten years until he relinquished the title to concentrate on fighting at light-heavyweight. As his super-middleweight and light-heavyweight reigns overlapped, he retired with the longest continual time as world champion of any active fighter. He is part of the Team Calzaghe based at the Newbridge boxing club.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year, by gaining 28.19% of the public vote. This made Calzaghe the first Welsh winner of this award since show jumper David Broome in 1960. He was also awarded the Young Boxer of the Year Award in 1995.
Joe Calzaghe was the first Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Champion after his impressive win against undefeated American Jeff Lacy, He also became Ring Magazine Champion in his second weight division after beating future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins for the Light Heavyweight Title, This made Joe a two weight world champion .
Joe had some big wins against former Super Middleweight world champions like WBO Champion Chris Eubank, WBC Champions Robin Reid and Richie Woodhall, IBF Champions Jeff Lacy and Charles Brewer, WBA Champion Byron Mitchell, Current IBO Champion Sakio Bika, Joe beat the then champion Mikkel Kessler for the WBA/WBC Titles. In 2008, he had wins over former WBA/WBO/WBC/IBF/RING Middleweight and RING Light Heavyweight Champion Bernard Hopkins, and over Roy Jones Jr who has held titles at Middleweight,Super Middle,Light Heavy and even Heavyweight .

Ĩ ÁM ŚŤŔÁŶČÁŤ ÁŃĎ Ĩ ÁPPŔŐVĔ ŤĤĨŚ MĔŚŚÁĞĔ
>^^< ŚŤŔÚŤ!

ScapposeJohn commenting on Shane Mosely possibly being unaware he was taking PED's wrote:
Likewise. It reminds me of President Clinton saying that he smoked weed in college but never inhaled. Yeah..........right.

1893- Johnny Wilson (born Giovanni Panica in New York City, New York)
Professional boxer who fought from 1911 until 1926. The highlight of Wilson's career came when he captured the world middleweight championship by defeating Mike O'Dowd by decision over 12 rounds on May 6, 1920. Wilson held the crown until he was outpointed over 15 rounds by the all-time great Harry Greb.
After retiring from the ring, Wilson was involved in the ownership/management of several successful nightclubs in New York and Boston. Wilson died on December 8, 1985.

1913- Sixto Escobar (born Sixto Escobar Vargas in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico)
Puerto Rican professional boxer. Competing in the bantamweight division, he became Puerto Rico's first world champion. Escobar was born in Barceloneta and raised in San Juan. There he received his primary education and took interest in boxing. After gathering a record of 21-1-1 as an amateur, Escobar debuted as a professional in 1931 defeating Luis "Kid Dominican" Pérez by knockout. Early in his career, he moved to Venezuela due to the lack of opponents in his division. There he received an opportunity for the Venezuelan Bantamweight championship, but lost by points. Subsequently he moved to New York and began boxing in other states, eventually capturing the Montreal Athletic Commission World Bantamweight Title. In 1936, he defeated Tony Marino to unify this championship with the one recognized by the International Boxing Union, in the process becoming the third Latin American undisputed world boxing champion. After retiring, he worked as a spokesperson for beer companies in New York, before returning to Puerto Rico in the 1960s, where he resided until his death. He received several posthumous recognitions and his name was used in several sports venues and buildings. In 2002, Escobar was inducted into the International Hall Of Fame.
Escobar was born in Barrio Palmas Altas, a sector of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, to Jacinto Escobar and Adela Vargas. Early in his life, he moved to Tras Talleres in Santurce, a subsection of San Juan, Puerto Rico. There he received his elementary and secondary education, up until the eighth grade, when he decided to dedicate himself full-time to his sports career. In Tras Talleres, he began developing an interest in boxing and received instruction in said discipline. Although at this time, boxing was illegal in Puerto Rico; remote places such as a house’s backyard or rooftops were used to organize clandestine fights without attracting attention from the local police. In 1928, a Puerto Rican boxer named Ángel "Sotito" Soto moved from New York to a house near the Escobar family’s residence and established a gym in his backyard. There he gave boxing classes to Escobar and several other young athletes. After several months of instruction, Soto prepared a boxing card with included three-round fights, in which each round lasted two minutes. In this event, Escobar earned his first victory, defeating a pugilist identified as "Gombar" by knockout in the first round. After this match, Escobar continued fighting in clandestine gyms. He met and was received by Ignacio Peñagaricano, the owner of Victoria Gym.
Escobar received his boxing license through Peñagaricano. On February 16, 1927, governor Horace Mann Towner legalized
boxing and allowed the establishment of organized boxing matches. Professionals would fight Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays which, were considered the best days of the week, while amateurs could compete the remaining days of the week without limitations. As an amateur, he fought in 23 combats, gathering a record of 21 wins, one loss and a draw. His draw was against Ramón Rodríguez of San Lorenzo and his only loss was in the hands of Pedro Montañez from Cayey, in a fight that took place in March 1930.
Escobar turned professional on September 1, 1930, in a fight card organized at the Victory Garden gym in San Juan. In this event, he defeated Luis "Kid Dominican" Pérez, who entered the fight as the Dominican Republic's champion, by knockout in the third round. In Puerto Rico, Escobar fought in 15 contests, before moving to Venezuela after the popularity of professional boxing declined in his home country. This move was motivated by Roberto Andrade, who provided transportation to the country. In Venezuela, he fought in Caracas, competing against José Lugo, Sindulfo Díaz, Rafael "Moralito" Morales, Pica Pica and Simón Chávez among others. On November 11, 1931, Escobar competed against Enrique Chaffardet for the Venezuelan Bantamweight Title, but lost by decision. After 17 fights, he returned to Puerto Rico and competed in five cards. But professional boxing suffered another decline in interest, which forced Escobar to work as an accommodator in baseball games three days of the week, generally on weekends. In the meanwhile, Tony Rojas, a friend of his managers Gustavo Jiménez and Arturo Gigante, convinced them to release Escobar of the contract which bound them. Since Escobar turned professional while he was still legally a minor, his father had to sign the unbinding agreement. After succeeding in this task, Rojas presented Escobar with a steam boat ticket to New York, which covered his food, clothes and hotel expenses. Escobar reached New York in early 1934, intending to "obtain fame and honor" for "[his] motherland", there he was received by Rojas and professional trainer Whitey Bimstein. His first fight in the United States took place in Holyoke, Massachusetts on May 7, 1934. In this contest he was paired against Canadian bantamweight titleholder Bobby Leitham, defeating him by technical knockout in the seventh round.
Escobar's manager, Lou Brix and his trainer recognized that Escobar could be close to a championship fight once the incumbent, Panamian Alfonso Teófilo Brown, refused to defend the championship against the first contender, which led to it being stripped by the National Boxing Association (NBA). A rematch was then organized against Leitham. This was an eliminatory card organized by the Montreal Athletic Commission, which was to determine a contender for their vacant Bantamweight World Championship, against first contender Baby Casanova, who attended the card. After scoring three knockdowns in the fourth round, Escobar connected another punch that injured Leitham, after which Leitham's manager surrendered the fight. This marked Leitham's last fight. Following this result, the NBA immediately called for a fight between Escobar and Casanova. By this time he had gained a reputation as a quick and technical boxer, capable of gathering quick knockouts with body punches if confronted by an unprepared opponent. The fight took place on June 26, 1934, and it was organized in Montreal, Canada. Escobar scored a knockdown in the third round; the fight concluded in the ninth round when Casanova lost by knockout. With this win, Escobar won the Montreal Athletic Commission World Bantamweight Title, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to win a world boxing championship title. This had a signifficant impact on Puerto Rico, where it was constantly discussed by the general public. Songs, decimas and poetry were written about this accomplishment. However, the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) and International Boxing Union (IBU) of France didn't recognize the outcome of this fight, conserving Tony Marino and Brown as their recognized champions.
On August 8, 1934, he defeated Eugene Hart by points in a non-title match organized in Canada. This was the first time in his career that Escobar completed a 15-round contest. After this event, he stayed in Montreal expecting to fight against the winner of a matchup between Louis Salica and Bobby Quintana, which was schelueded to take place on December of that year. However, Escobar was forced to cancel his plans after suffering a heel injury when he was hit by a car. He spent a month in inactivity while recovering, and in the winter he returned to Puerto Rico. The governor ordered to have all government buildings closed so that public employees could attend a welcoming ceremony. The event, which took place in Old San Juan's dock, was followed by a parade. Upon arriving in Barceloneta, Escobar was recognized as a "predilect son" of that municipality by the city's mayor, which was followed by a week of festivities in his name. Escobar pursued a fight with Brown, but his offers were refused while the Panamian pugilist promoted a campaign protesting the removal of his recognition as champion, demanding to be reinstated.
On August 7, 1935, Escobar defeated Peter Santol, who was considered Canada's best bantaweight and held the Canadian Boxing Federation & Montreal Athletic Commission (MAC) world titles, by unanimous decision in 12 rounds. However, Escobar still wasn't considered the division's Undisputed Champion because Baltazar Sangchili had defeated Panama Al Brown and was recognized by the IBU. Due to this, Santol sent a letter to the NYSAC noting that the fight was of eliminatory nature, even though it was recognized as a titular contest by the NBA and MAC. Wanting to be recognized as such, Escobar pursued a title unification fight against Tony Marino, who had defeated Sangchili by knockout in his previous fight. He won the fight by knockout in the tenth round, receiving the "undisputed world champion" distinction. On November 13, 1935, Escobar became the first Puerto Rican to win a title fight in the first round, defeating "Indian" Quintana by knockout.
This outcome made it possible to organize a fight against Louis Salica, it was the first time that Escobar fought a title fight in Puerto Rico. The card was promoted by Arturo Gigante and Gustavo Jiménez Sicardó. Escobar won the fight by unanimous decision, while Jack Dempsey served as referee. He participated in Mike Jacobs's "Carnival of Champions" on September 23, 1937 and lost the title to Harry Jeffra by unanimous decision. Shortly after, he recovered from this loss and he returned to the gym; he defeated Johnny Defoe in a preparaty contest. On February 20, 1938, Escobar faced Jeffra in a rematch organized at the El Escambrón baseball park in Puerta de Tierra. He won the contest by unanimous decision, scoring three knockdowns. This became an early example of fights that attracted the attention and criticism of boxing analists, particularly those in New York. On April 2, 1939, Escobar defeated Kayo Morgan before a sold-out crowd of 15,000 at the Estadio Sixto Escobar, which had been inaugurated three years earlier. After this fight, he received The Ring Bantamweight Championship, which was presented by the magazine's editor, Nat Fleischer. Later in 1939, Escobar received a draft notice from the United States Army, ordering him to take a physical exam for possible military service. He and his manager presented the issue to the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission, managing to receive a postponement of two months before surrendering his title. On April 6, 1940, Escobar fought Simón Chávez for ten rounds in what ended as a draw. Escobar then fought some short non-title fights, of which he lost four, all by points. On December 2, 1940, Escobar participated in his last professional fight, losing to a ten round decision to Harry Jeffra. Throughout his career Escobar avoided being knocked down or out in any fight, all of his losses being by decision. In April 1941, he was drafted by the Army and participated in World War II.
Statue of Sixto Escobar, located in front of the Sixto Escobar Stadium in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
After his military service, Escobar confronted problems to meet the bantamweight's limit and retired. He became a spokesman for a liquor brand and relocated to New York temporally, with his family. Subsequently he returned to Puerto Rico where he worked selling liquor in bars. In May 1947, Escobar and Jiménez Sicardó co-promoted a fight with the intention of bringing fans back to boxing. In the main event, Diego Sosa was matched against Francisco Colón García. Escobar was inducted into the Madison Square Garden's Boxing Hall of Fame in 1950. Escobar continued in his job as a liquor salesperson, during which it was common for liquor salesmen to drink a little bit of the product which they sold in front of potential customers. This contributed to the development of Escobar's alcoholic tendencies. His alcoholism would later combine with his diabetes and contribute to his death when he was 66 years old. Weeks before his death, Escobar participated in his last ceremony, where Diego Suárez, president of V. Suárez & Company. gave him a recognition.
After his death, the town of Barceloneta honored his memory by a statue. Escobar became the first world boxing champion in history to have a statue in his honor. On June 9, 2002, Escobar was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He became the fourth Puerto Rican to receive this distinction and the first to be included in the "Old Timers" section. In March 2005, a second statue of Estobar was unveiled at the Estadio Sixto Escobar in San Juan. Among the celebrities that attended the ceremony were former boxing world champions Julian Solís and Alfredo Escalera. This statue's location served as a remembrance tribute during the 94th anniversary of Escobar's birth, when a flower crown was placed at its feet. During this date, an activity was presented by Puerto Rico's House of Boxing in the library of the Pabellón de la Fama del Deporte Puertorriqueño. Among those who attended the ceremony were Solís, Escalera and Iván Calderón. On this date, People Inc. presented a documentary covering his life, which was donated to the venue. Several buildings and streets were named after Escobar posthumously, including the Auditorio Sixto Escobar. The house where he lived was later turned into a library and museum bearing his name.

1972- Joe Calzaghe (born Joseph William Calzaghe in Hammersmith, London, England)
Welsh former professional boxer. He was rated by Ring magazine as pound for pound one of the top 10 boxers in the world and was rated as the second best pound for pound boxer on the planet by the BBC before he retired. He retired in February 2009 with an undefeated record, becoming only the fourth European boxer, after Terry Marsh, Michael Loewe and Sven Ottke, to retire as an undefeated world champion. After his retirement, Ricky Hatton described him as "the best British fighter we've ever had".
Calzaghe is sometimes referred to as the "Pride of Wales", or the "Italian Dragon" in reference to his mixed heritage (the dragon being both a Welsh emblem and a Sardinian myth). He is the former WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, The Ring magazine & British super middleweight champion and Ring magazine Light-heavyweight Champion.
Calzaghe is the longest-reigning world champion in recent years, having held the WBO super middleweight title for over ten years until he relinquished the title to concentrate on fighting at light-heavyweight. As his super-middleweight and light-heavyweight reigns overlapped, he retired with the longest continual time as world champion of any active fighter. He is part of the Team Calzaghe based at the Newbridge boxing club.
In 2007, Calzaghe became BBC Sports Personality of the Year, by gaining 28.19% of the public vote. This made Calzaghe the first Welsh winner of this award since show jumper David Broome in 1960. He was also awarded the Young Boxer of the Year Award in 1995.
Calzaghe was the first Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Champion after his impressive win against undefeated American Jeff Lacy, He also became Ring Magazine Champion in his second weight division after beating future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins for the light heavyweight title. This made him a two weight world champion.
Calzaghe had some big wins against former Super Middleweight world champions like WBO Champion Chris Eubank, WBC Champions Robin Reid and Richie Woodhall, IBF Champions Jeff Lacy and Charles Brewer, WBA Champion Byron Mitchell, Current IBO Champion Sakio Bika, as well as capable contenders such as Omar Sheika, Mario Veit and David Starie. He beat the then champion Mikkel Kessler for the WBA/WBC Titles. In 2008, he had wins over former WBA/WBO/WBC/IBF/Ring Middleweight and Ring light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, and over Roy Jones Jr who has held world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and even heavyweight.
Calzaghe was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to Sardinian Enzo Calzaghe and his Welsh mother Jackie. The family moved to Wales when he was aged two. Their home is at Newbridge in south Wales. He attended Roots School System and still lives in the area. Calzaghe as the first person to be awarded the Freedom of Caerphilly, his home county, in 2009. The award was presented to Calzaghe in front of his family—dad and trainer Enzo, mam Jackie, sister Sonia, girlfriend Jo-Emma Larvin and sons Joe and Connor, 15 and 11 years old respectively at the time.
Already a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Calzaghe, a southpaw, began boxing at age nine. In more than 12 amateur contests, he won four schoolboy ABA titles, followed by three consecutive senior British ABA titles (British Championships) between 1991 and 1993. This made him only the second boxer in history to win in welter, light-middleweight and middleweight divisions. He also never fought WBO and IBF world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd, there is no proof he ever fought Byrd and this has been proven true. He reportedly had an amateur record of 110-10. Calzaghe received his last defeats at the hands of Michael Smyth in the 1990 Welsh ABA final and Romanian amateur Adrian Opreda at the 1990 European Junior Championships in Prague.
In September 1993 Calzaghe was signed up to the Terry Lawless and Mickey Duff stable and made his professional debut at Cardiff Arms Park on the Lennox Lewis vs. Frank Bruno bill the following month. By June 1995, Calzaghe had won nine out of nine fights, seven in the first round and two in the second. At the end of 1995 Calzaghe was voted Young Boxer of the Year by the Professional Boxing Association and the Boxing Writers' Club, with Barry McGuigan's top tipping Calzaghe for 1996: "He punches ferociously, moves superbly and has the best of the European technique and US aggression." By October 1995, he had won the British title, stopping Steve Wilson in the eighth round. Calzaghe's critics said that he had not really been tested. Calzaghe said in reply that he could only beat whoever was out there and prepared to fight him.
In November 1996, Calzaghe moved to Frank Warren's stable. Warren, who had managed Nigel Benn for his first twenty fights, declared: "Joe Calzaghe is a far better prospect, in fact he is my fighter for the new millennium." Warren spent the summer of 1997 chasing a fight for Calzaghe with either WBC champion Robin Reid or WBO title holder Steve Collins. The fight with Collins was arranged, but at a late stage Collins withdrew because of injury, was stripped of his title, and then retired.
Calzaghe split with promoter Frank Warren in June 2008 and announced that he would promote his fights personally for the remainder of his career. The split caused Warren to launch a court case against Calzaghe, claiming that a verbal promise to promote the Roy Jones Jr fight was broken and that Calzaghe owed him $1.4 million; Calzaghe in turn claimed that Warren owed him past fees. In March 2009 the High Court ruled that Warren had persuaded Calzaghe to sign contracts under duress when Calzaghe was hungry and dehydrated preparing for matches and that Warren's company Sports Network Limited owed Calzaghe $2.8 million in unpaid fees. Sports Network Limited intends to appeal the award.
A fight against British boxing legend Chris Eubank was set up for the vacant WBO title on 11 October 1997, in Sheffield. Calzaghe emerged victorious over the two-time WBO champion, shockingly knocking the granite chinned Eubank down in the opening seconds and claiming a unanimous points win. The judges scored the contest 118-110, 118-109, and 116-111 in favour of Calzaghe. Eubank said of Calzaghe in a 2006 interview that: "Joe is the proper article, a true warrior." Calzaghe conceded that Eubank, even in his comeback, gave him the toughest fight of his life.
In 1998 he defended his title against Branco Sobot (winning by technical knockout in 3 rounds), Sobot, was a late replacement for American Tarick Salmaci, who pulled out after a row with his management. Sobot was knocked down in the third round, he beat the count but immediately came under renewed punishment from Calzaghe. Forcing the referee to step in at 1:35 of the third round. Calzaghe then went onto fight Juan Carlos Gimenez (TKO in 10 rounds), a former opponent of both Nigel In 1999, Calzaghe started out by fighting his domestic rival, Robin Reid. Calzaghe was bitter that Reid refused to face him whilst holding the WBC championship in a unification bout, and vowed to beat him. After twelve rounds, the judges scored the fight for Calzaghe via a split decision. Reid was never given the opportunity of a rematch. Calzaghe damaged his hand early on in the fight and according to Calzaghe, he suffered a dose of food poisoning. Calzaghe finished the year with another points win against Rick Thornberry.
2000 started with another points decision against David Starie. This was followed by wins against Omar Sheika (a fifth-round stoppage), and former WBC champion and close friend Richie Woodhall.
2001 started with a first-round-stoppage win over unbeaten Mario Veit, followed by a win against Will McIntyre on the Mike Tyson-Brian Nielsen undercard in Copenhagen. Calzaghe dropped the American in the third round with a ferocious left uppercut, although McIntyre managed to survive the count. But the end was near, Calzaghe dropped McIntyre again at the start of the fourth and this time the referee stopped proceedings.
2002 started with points wins against both the former IBF champion Charles Brewer and Miguel Jimenez in Cardiff, followed by a quick TKO of Tocker Pudwill, who took the fight at very short notice as a replacement for the injured Thomas Tate, in Newcastle in December. With the win Calzaghe successfully defended his WBO super-middleweight crown for the 12th time. After the fight, Calzaghe said: "I'm one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. I want to be remembered as one of the best British boxers ever."
Calzaghe's only fight of 2003 was in June against Byron Mitchell at the Cardiff International Arena. Calzaghe won by TKO in the second. Calzaghe suffered his first career knockdown in the second round.
2004 started out with a defense against Mger Mkrtchian in Cardiff where he won by a seventh-round knockout, followed by a points win over Karbary Salem in Edinburgh in October, during which Calzaghe was knocked down in the fourth round by a right hand. However, he dominated the fight and knocked Salem down in the 12th round, winning comfortably on all three scorecards, 116-109,117-109,118-107.
Veit got a rematch against Calzaghe in Braunschweig, Germany, in July 2005. Calzaghe beat Veit by technical knockout in the sixth round. On 10 September 2005, Calzaghe fought the Kenyan boxer Evans Ashira and won by a unanimous decision despite breaking his left hand in the third round. Calzaghe fought on one-handed winning 120-108, 120-108, 120-107.
His scheduled bout with IBF world champion Jeff Lacy for 5 November 2005 was initially canceled due to the break sustained to the metacarpal in his left hand. Warren successfully rescheduled it for 5 March 2006, and the match was won by unanimous points decision over Lacy who was a pre-fight favourite with the bookmakers and pundits alike. Calzaghe dominated throughout the fight, with British fight fans chanting "easy" at the American during the last three rounds. Calzaghe gained the IBF title, and won every round despite a point being deducted in the 11th for an illegal "behind the body" punch. He also won recognition from The Ring magazine.
On 14 October 2006, Sakio Bika challenged Calzaghe. Two points were deducted from Bika for head butts, one of which led to a severe cut over Calzaghe's left eye which would cause him problems for the duration of the bout. Calzaghe won the fight on decision, to continue his undefeated run.
On November 27, 2006, it was announced that Calzaghe had signed a contract to defend his WBO super middleweight title against former star of The Contender Peter Manfredo Jr. on April 7, 2007, at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to be shown on HBO. Because HBO didn't want to cover any fight with mandatory IBF challenger Robert Stieglitz, and with the opportunity if he won against Manfredo to fight Taylor in the summer, Calzaghe chose to fight Manfredo and as a result had to relinquish the IBF super middleweight championship. Both Calzaghe and Warren claimed that "Stieglitz doesn't mean anything outside of Germany." Stieglitz went on to fight Alejandro Berrio for the vacant IBF title, losing in 3 rounds. Berrio in turn lost the title to Lucian Bute in his first defense.
On April 7, 2007, Calzaghe met Peter Manfredo Jr. in front of 35,000 fans in Cardiff, Wales. Calzaghe was victorious on a third-round stoppage, unleashing a flurry of punches on Manfredo, who threw nothing in return, thus drawing a stoppage from the referee. Manfredo and some commentators called the stoppage premature because Manfredo did not appear hurt. HBO's ringside announcers declared that the stoppage was "way too quick." Trainer Emanuel Steward did contend that Calzaghe was on his way to victory, but the stoppage tainted the performance through no fault of his own.
Unifying the super middleweight division
In May 2007, Frank Warren released details to BBC 5 Live and on his website that Calzaghe had accepted Mogens Palle's offer of $5 million to fight Mikkel Kessler in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bout took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on November 4. The fight was a unification bout for the WBO/WBA super/WBC/Ring Magazine super-middleweight titles. Calzaghe won by unanimous decision, surpassing the 20 defenses made by Bernard Hopkins and Larry Holmes at middleweight and heavyweight respectively. Only Joe Louis with 25 defenses of the undisputed heavyweight title and Dariusz Michalczewski with 23 defenses of the WBO light heavyweight title have more defenses of a title.
Calzaghe was frequently described as undisputed champion, Since he had relinquished the IBF title, others argued that this was not strictly accurate, Reuters called him "undisputed king" of the division, while David A Avila said he was "the true undisputed world champion. Forget about the IBF titleholder Alejandro Berrio. That’s really Calzaghe’s belt too." The WBA describes as "undisputed champion" those who hold any two of the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles;which Calzaghe did after beating Kessler, and had earlier done after beating Lacy.
On April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Calzaghe defeated Bernard Hopkins and won The Ring light heavyweight championship by a split decision in his first ever fight in the United States. Going into the fight Calzaghe again was a heavy favorite as Hopkins was 43 years old and had lost 2 of his last 4 fights. Calzaghe did not get off to a good start. Hopkins dropped him with a right hand in the first round and began to get the better of Calzaghe on the inside. As the rounds went on, Calzaghe began to get his rhythm going by landing combinations at close range. Hopkins’ key weapon was his right hand, but after a few rounds Calzaghe could see the right hands coming and blocked the shots with his glove. According to CompuBox, Calzaghe landed more punches on Hopkins than any of his previous opponents. In the end, judges Chuck Giampa (116-111) and Ted Gimza (115-112) scored the fight for Calzaghe, while judge Adalaide Byrd (114-113) scored the fight for Hopkins. Hopkins has openly stated that he wants a rematch with Calzaghe but Calzaghe felt he had nothing more to prove and said he'd retire after the meeting with Jones.
On July 8, 2008, after Calzaghe's split from Frank Warren, it was officially announced that Roy Jones Jr. and Joe Calzaghe had reached an agreement to fight for the Ring magazine light heavyweight championship in New York City at Madison Square Garden on September 20, 2008 on HBO PPV. After Calzaghe injured his right hand in training, the "super fight" was postponed, with 8 November being set as the new date. Calzaghe was put down by an accidental forearm in the first round. Two close rounds followed before Calzaghe took control of the fight. In the eighth round, Jones sustained a cut over an eye, nearly forcing a stoppage. The judges' decision was 118-109 for Calzaghe.
On 5 February 2009, Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement from professional boxing, finishing with a record of 46-0, one of the few World Champions to finish undefeated along with Rocky Marciano, Ji Won Kim, Terry Marsh, Michael Loewe, Ricardo Lopez, Pichit Sitbangprachan, Harry Simon, Sven Ottke and Edwin Valero. He is also one of only 3 undisputed and undefeated world champions (Marciano and Lopez are the other two).
In an interview with GMTV, Calzaghe stated he is promoting The Beat Bullying campaign. He said to have found the inspiration from being a victim of bullying himself when he was young, saying he got bullied because of his small stature.
In August 2009, he was announced as a participant in the seventh series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series, partnering Russian professional Kristina Rihanoff whom he is now dating .
Joe won the 2010 Soccer Aid, a British charity football match with the Rest of the World team beating England, Joe scored the Rest of the World team's first goal, the game was tied after full-time but the Rest of the World won on penalties.
Calzaghe Promotions
Following his retirement from boxing, Calzaghe started his own boxing promotion company called "Calzaghe Promotions" with his father, Enzo Calzaghe.
Following an undercover investigation by the News of the World Newspaper, Calzaghe admitted he had used cocaine since his boxing career had ended. In a statement on his website, he added that he regretted his "occasional use of cocaine in what have sometimes been the long days since my retirement from the ring."

Ĩ ÁM ŚŤŔÁŶČÁŤ ÁŃĎ Ĩ ÁPPŔŐVĔ ŤĤĨŚ MĔŚŚÁĞĔ
>^^< ŚŤŔÚŤ!

ScapposeJohn commenting on Shane Mosely possibly being unaware he was taking PED's wrote:
Likewise. It reminds me of President Clinton saying that he smoked weed in college but never inhaled. Yeah..........right.

ScapposeJohn commenting on Shane Mosely possibly being unaware he was taking PED's wrote:
Likewise. It reminds me of President Clinton saying that he smoked weed in college but never inhaled. Yeah..........right.